When The Time Is Right
by asirnay
Summary: Callie thinks she may be ready to move on.


What do I say to him?

I've never seen Mark Sloan look so vulnerable before. It's almost scary. This is the same guy that will hit on a widow at her dead husband's funeral. And yeah, he has done that. He actually went all Owen Wilson Wedding Crashers style on some poor, unsuspecting woman.

I actually laughed when the he told me that story. We were having lunch together in the cafeteria. Ever since George and I split up, if I didn't have Cristina to keep me company, I'd be with Mark. Ever since Addison left, I've noticed things about him. He can actually be quite the sweetheart when no one's looking. I think there's way more to Mark Sloan than what meets the eye. He looked out for me when my reign as Chief Resident was going down in flames. He actually talked to me because he was genuinely concerned about me and my well being, not to mention my career. Which I almost lost spazzing out on this patient's boyfriend. Yeah, he was a jerk. He was forcing his girlfriend to lose weight she didn't even need to lose. Bailey and I were working on her. And George was our intern.

That was the day I found out. About him and that bitch Izzie.

I should've requested another intern. I should have. I think I still wouldn't have been able to focus. I was trying to so hard to keep it together. I felt was being tugged at from both sides. On one end was my marriage, which was clearly over. I just kept denying that it was. On the other end, my new position as Chief Resident. I don't have regrets throwing my hat in the ring. And had I not been so focused on denying that my marriage was falling apart, I think I would've done one hell of a job. But even I have to admit it. That job belonged to Bailey. She could do it her sleep.

When the meth lab baby turned up missing and I was frantically searching for him, Mark talked to me. He asked me was I okay. I said I was fine and it was way beyond obvious that I wasn't. Truth be told, I was expecting him to use the opportunity to drop one of his patented come-on lines. He flirted with me from time to time, even though I was married. I would just laugh it off and go on my way. He couldn't help himself. He was Mark. He was only doing what everybody expected of him.

But he said that I wasn't fine. He and I hadn't really gotten to know each other at that point. I pretty much kept my distance from him after George found out that I used to sleep with him. But Mark recognized that I needed someone to talk to. Addison and I still keep in touch. She's doing exactly what she set out to do, making a new life for herself. She's so happy in Santa Monica. I didn't want to ruin that with my constant drama. I was so tempted to pack my bags and move down there with her. Or head back home to Miami. But I couldn't run. I didn't want to give Barbie the satisfaction that she ran me off.

Mark was right. I wasn't fine. George, of all people, kept me from pounding the crap out of that dude that lost his girlfriend. His superficial bullshit cost him the person he claimed to love. That was punishment enough. He was going to have to live with that for the rest of his life. He didn't deserve to hear what I said to him. Because everything I said to that guy, I should've been telling George directly. I just couldn't. I couldn't look at him without wanting to fall apart.

That night, I stood out there in the freezing rain. Emotionally, I was paralyzed. I felt like I had no one to talk to. Nowhere to go that didn't remind me of him. Then he shows up. George. He says I couldn't just forgive him. He said that it happened. Him and Izzie. It happened and we couldn't pretend that it didn't. Not once did he say "I'm sorry". It all clicked. He wasn't looking to be forgiven. He just wanted an out to our marriage and he was too much of coward to admit that. Sure, I would've been hurt. There's no getting around that. But at the end of the day, I would've still respected him as a man.

I had to cut him loose. I put so much work into our relationship. Into us. And for what? He still wanted to be a little kid. I knew once I told him that I didn't forgive him that he'd go back to playing House with his Barbie doll. And he did. He flaunted his mistress in my face as his new girlfriend. Cristina told me that they were waiting to have sex again, out of respect for me and my feelings. Well, if either of them had an ounce of consideration that they claimed to have, then they never should've fucked in the first place.

The night I found out, I went home alone. I sat there in the dark, with my wet clothes still on. All the memories I had of my stay at the Archfield where connected to George somehow. When he wasn't ready for us to live together, I checked in that night. Sure I could've went and found my own apartment, or a condo, or even a house. But I wanted to wake up next to my man. Grey didn't mind if stayed at her house. And Izzie was still mourning Denny at the time. She pretty much kept to herself then. George proposed to me at there. At the Archfield. I moved him in with me after we got married. We were so happy in the beginning.

I couldn't take being in that room alone. I couldn't breathe. I hopped in the shower, put on some dry clothes, and went to the bar down in the lobby of the Archfield. And there he was. Mark. He was hitting on some brunette that looked half his age. She knocked back a couple drinks that he bought her and pulled the "let me go powder my nose routine" on him. She wasn't coming back. He knew it. It didn't seem to faze him. But deep down, it probably did. I filled in the empty bar stool next to him. It reminded me of the night we first met. The first time I broke up with George. We had a couple of drinks. He asked me if it was true that I was going to fight Izzie in the cafeteria earlier that day. At first, I didn't want to talk about it. I thought I was going to end up crying. Again. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I had no tears left to shed. I told him that I didn't want to fight Izzie. I just wanted to talk. She was ready to knuckle up right there in the cafeteria. In front of interns, residents, attendings. Everybody. They all knew. The Chief Resident's business was put out there. All I could do was walk away. It was so humiliating. Maybe I should've kicked her ass.

Izzie attempted to apologize later. I'm standing there like, Are you fucking kidding me? This is the same woman who told me that my marriage was meaningless. She belittled me every chance she had and now she wanted my forgiveness. You know what i told her? I told that she should be the one feeling humiliated. She stole George from me a like a petty little thief. And last but not least, I told her to "Don't even dare come to me for forgiveness, you traitorous bitch".

I felt that Izzie betrayed me even though we were never friends to begin with. I was trying to be the bigger person. I didn't have a problem with George having someone that looked like Izzie as his best friend, as long as he did right by me. Most women would be intimidated by that. 'Cause let's keep it real here, toxic personally aside, Izzie is hot. I'd do her myself. I gave her the benefit of doubt and she took it and threw it in my face. That's why I put her on blast. I wanted her to feel how I felt. The day that I told everybody, I announced it in the residents' lounge. That bitch scurried away like a roach when the light's turned on.

Mark said things might suck at the moment, but in the long run, I would come out the better person. It was interesting to get that insight from him. Especially since he was the one that "Izzied" Derek and Addison's marriage. He gave up his life in New York for them. Somehow, he wanted to rekindle his romance with Addison and get Derek back as his friend. I don't think he realized that it was nearly impossible to have both. He got Sheppard back. But he lost Addison the same way he got her. To Karev. But that's a whole other story.

After we had a few drinks, Mark walked me back to my room. We said good night. And then I grabbed him by his shirt and basically rammed my tongue down his throat. At first, he was into it. He was kissing me back. But slowly he pulled away. He couldn't. He wanted to. But he felt that if he and I were to go down that road again, that wasn't the right time. I didn't want to spend the night alone. So he let me stay with him. He let me have the bed while he slept on the sofa. Who would've thought that the manwhore was capable of being a perfect gentleman.

That opened us up to becoming friends. I felt I could confide in him. He would ask me about how Addison was doing. I didn't want to tell him about Pete. After awhile, that didn't matter. Things didn't work out. Addison now has the hots for Nelson, this policeman that we nicknamed "Officer Friendly". Mark told me to be straight with him. When I told him about Nelson, he took it better than I thought. He was still carrying a torch for Addison. I gave him what he needed so he could move on.

It was a busy day here at the hospital today. More busier than usual. There was an accident. Mary, this paramedic I hang out with every now and then, had a seizure and crashed her ambulance into another ambulance. Sheppard worked on her after I reset her elbow. Thank God she's going to be fine. I heard things got a little hairy during surgery. The computer hooked up to the scope Sheppard had inside Mary's brain had went dead. And all of the sudden, some nurse stepped up and went MacGyver on the computer and actually fixed it. I'm like okay, as long as Mary is alright. Sloan and I ended working on the same patient. This poor guy Jacob was already being brought in because of chest pains. He had just had bypass surgery a couple of weeks ago. He was injured in the ambulance accident. There was a huge piece of shrapnel I had to remove from his femur.

Cristina and Izzie were working with me. Me and Hahn were going to operate at the same time. Mark was working with us as well. Hahn brought him in to close up Jacob's chest. There was an infection along the incision from Jacob's bypass. Hahn needed to remove the sternum, so she got Mark to close his pectoral muscles together so there wouldn't be this gap, leaving his heart exposed underneath his skin. Bailey snatched Cristina to help her deal with a difficult patient. I think it was Mary's partner, Shane. I'll ask her about that later. I probably won't get a chance to ask her tonight. Ever since I moved in with her, she'll hang out over at Grey's a couple times out of the week. That's how I found out George moved back in. Cristina said that he used to sleep in Izzie's room, now he's in the hallway in a sleeping bag. Grey gave Karev his old room after we got married. Like Hahn would say, karma rocks.

Being in surgery with Hahn was brutal. She put Mark down constantly. Apparently, the old dog has a crush on her. Mark had to tend to his other patient Nick. He removed a tumor and some of his lymph nodes. The carotid artery was left unguarded underneath a flap of skin. It burst. Lexie Grey called a code blue. I thought maybe that was overkill. The hot second I did get to speak to Cristina today, she told me Lexie handled herself well. She was taking her to Grey's house to wind down. I didn't know what my plans were after work yet.

Mark lost Nick. He ended up having a stroke. That guy was a trooper. Which is probably why Mark is feeling it right now. When you lose a patient, you feel so inconsolable. Much like when your marriage falls apart. I hate seeing Mark like this. I've really grown to care about him since I've gotten a chance to know him. I've had really bad timing in the past putting myself out there when it comes to somebody I like. He hasn't tried to make a pass at me in awhile. The last time he tried, I basically ignored what he said. I rambled on about losing George. One reason he probably gave up just walked in the lounge and took a seat next to me. I had to do a double take. I looked at Mark, like "What the hell?" Erica Hahn never comes to the lounge. She invited us out to have a drink with her. Something else Erica Hahn normally doesn't do. She obviously need to unwind herself. No man, no woman for that matter, is an island. Not even her.

I don't know what he sees in her. She's a tough ol' broad. Hahn doesn't even like Mark. At least not in that way. But he keeps trying. I want to tell him how I feel I about him. I don't know if it's too soon after George. I'm not even sure if I'm ready to move on yet. But I'm looking forward to the day that I am sure. I'm looking forward to the next time he flirts with me, because I know he'll try again. Next time, I won't say no. Besides, I'm not about to compete with another blonde surgeon.


End file.
